It was 229 years ago today…

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

“He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.”

I never noticed that part before.

What also struck me is that the first ten or so are all related to obstructiionism.

Happy 4th of July everyone. Please remember just what we are celebrating as our brave men and women in uniform are going into Harm’s Way to protect what we hold dear.

See this draft essay re the LL and the MSM I just posted over at Roger Simon’s:

*****

President Bush has not waffled on his message, “We must stay the course.” He was re-elected after much debate on this very issue by the American people.

In creditable polls (RAND Corp and Pew), the American people do see a need for our continued presence in Iraq in terms of the larger GWOT. With the disinformation that the Liberal Left (LL) and MSM are spewing, the people are left confused at times.

The LL as well as the MSM are so wracked with anger and disdain for this administration, they can’t see the forest for the trees. We are not bogged down in any quagmire nor is this another Vietnam or is this an US imperialistic colonial movement; no matter how hard they may wish it so or try.

[…]

As Hugh Hewitt says we are in a transformational period as great or greater than Martin Luther’s time and the Protestant Reformation. With the advent of the printing press and moveable type this wrested control of the news, science, and thought of the day away from the aristocracy and the Catholic Church. Once the news and information was more freely available to the people, they were free to decide what to consider creditable and what the truth was.

The Blogos now has the power to bring objective news/info of the day directly to the American people without filtering or blocking by the LL aristocracy and the MSM.

[…]

We need to be honest with the American people. This is a war we cannot afford to lose. We are at war with a very cunning, determined, patient, stateless and transnational enemy driven by and unified in a common bound of a cult-like religious ideology. This a male dominated theocracy of hate and evil from the 12th Century whose stated mission is to destroy all of us – Islamofascism. Please remember this radical movement declared war against the US in 1993. It was only after the 9/11 strikes did we take notice.

This ideology is not unlike the other failed ideologies that have been discarded into history’s dustbin e.g., Nazism, Communism, and Fascism. These ideologies couldn’t provide for the needs and wants of the people. They failed to provide an equitable distribution of resources and wealth among the people. The key failure is they do not recognize the fundamental truth of the free will of men and women. In particular, the Achilles Heel of Islamofacisim is its failure to recognize the importance of women. Not until we crush and wipe this ideology from the face of the earth will this war be over.

[…]

Finally, I have yet to hear a coherent alternative strategic plan put forth by the LL and the MSM to win this war. Until they have a plan worth pursuing, the Honorable Senator Feingold, Senator Kennedy, Senator Kerry, and Senator Durbin can:

SHUT THE @#$% UP!

Their constant gum flapping is sending mix messages to the enemy. This only empowers and emboldens the enemy to kill more innocents and to kill or injure our brave men and women in uniform who go into harm’s way on our behalf. These thoughtless political statements only serve to hurt the morale of our troops. Our military is defending our very way of life, culture, and freedoms we hold dear from the enemy in the GWOT.

Ahhhhh, Jay Tea, I knew I could count on YOU to have the Declaration posted!! 🙂

Other useful things to post today include a picture of the Declaration itself, info on the 56 signers, and the rough draft of the Declaration, showing the anti-slavery clause that got forcibly removed… URLs for all those things are on my site in my post for today!! 🙂

Jay TeaJuly 4, 2005

Omni, I noticed that. And I would have included you in my “What-If” blogburst, but you have absolutely NO way of contacting you. No e-mail, no comments or feedback…